Why Tiffany’s (TIF) Stock Is Rising In Pre-Market Trading Today

Tiffany’s (TIF) stock is gaining in pre-market trading after beating analysts' expectations for the 2014 second quarter.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Tiffany & Co. (TIF) are higher by 2.91% to $103.70 in pre-market trading on Wednesday, after the high end jewelry store reported a 16% increase in 2014 second quarter net earnings to $124 million, or 96 cents per diluted share, compared with $107 million, or 83 cents per diluted share for the year ago period.

Tiffany's worldwide net sales grew 7% to $993 million for the most recent quarter, over the $925.8 million reported for the 2013 second quarter.

Tiffany's 2014 second quarter earnings results topped the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters of 85 cents per share, on revenue of $987.8 million.

"These healthy second quarter results reflected solid sales growth in our stores, particularly in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. In addition, an improved gross margin was an important contributor to the earnings growth," said company CEO Michael Kowalski.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates TIFFANY & CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate TIFFANY & CO (TIF) a BUY. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations, increase in net income and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity."